Just Starting

Monday, March 14, 2011

Just as I was starting the masters program I get distracted. It seems I have cancer. I now have to figure out how to fight this battle and continue my education. Unfortunately we are still in the "in the dark" phase but will meet with my doctors tomorrow to create a treatment plan. I am hopeful that we have caught it early enough to have a cure. I plan to create a new blog in order to "document" my progress so that those family members and friends who are not physically near will know how I am doing. Send prayers!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

I just finished the digital storytelling assignment. What a fun way to get the students to share themselves with each other. I can see this being very popular with students of all ages. I can speak for myself and say that I enjoyed the assignment. It was fun going through old pictures and remembering the fun we had. I have a 16-year-old daughter who is having her birthday party this weekend. I think setting up a story for her to play during the party might be a lot of fun for me, maybe not for her, and everyone will enjoying seeing the old pictures. I think the one above says it all.

I came across an interesting article about iPads called iPads No Longer Optional, by Bridget McCrea in Transforming Education Through Technology, T/H/E Journal (2/23/2011). What I found particularly interesting about this article is that it demonstrated the situation that almost every school district is facing at the present time, or has recently faced -- obsolete technology. The Webb School of Knoxville (in Tennessee) had an opportunity to assess the status of their IT department and found the infrastructure to be severely lacking with an expected cost of $550,000.00 to bring it up to "a reasonable level". They made the decision to embrace the most recent technology rather than updating the equipment that existed and bringing it to the point where it would be functional -- FUNCTIONAL, not appropriate. Applause goes out to this school for looking forward and not being afraid to choose the unfamiliar. Updates would have had to be done eventually and choosing the best option for the students rather than focusing on budgetary limitations was a brave choice.

That being said, however, they also discussed the largest difficulty the faced, bringing the iPad into each child's hands. As we all know, iPads are expensive and don't normally fit into the budgets of families with young children. The school understood this challenge and, in addition to ramping up the IT department, they worked out a plan to get an iPad for each child. Some already had one, others would be offered the opportunity to lease one from the school on a monthly payment basis for those who needed such an option rather than increasing tuition, which would have affected every student regardless of whether they needed an iPad or not.

This article shows that if a district is creative and willing to put the needs of the student first each of our students will be ready to face the world we are expecting them to run. Another interesting fact brought up in the article is that the cost of bringing in the new technology was the same as revamping the old technology. Yes the students did have to provide their own iPad or lease from the school, but the opportunities they were being offered far outweighed the initial outlay. Time is not going to stand still because of budgetary issues and taking the opportunity to invest in the futures of our students is a far better investment than "updating" outdated and obsolete equipment. Wise decision!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tonight is about fun stuff. We played with Scratch and the SmartBoard. We talked about safety online for our kiddos and copyright infringement. We are gearing up for big stuff, I can feel it. The WebQuest project is coming up and we will be starting digital storytelling, which will be very cool. I can't understand why more teachers are not using more of these tools. I know...time. If you think about it, though, the kids pick up on this stuff way faster than we do so wouldn't it make our lessons easier? Just a thought.

Monday, February 14, 2011

To me equal access, as it relates to education, means that every student has the right to the same information, equipment, and resources. Whether that access is technologically based or access to tutors or library services, every student is treated the same and has the ability to utilize the resources available in the same way as others. A problem is presented, obviously, when financial resources enter the equation. While we strive to make sure that every student has access and can equally achieve, it is inevitable that schools in more affluent communities will have an easier time achieving this goal than those schools that are in less affluent situations. The challenge is to make sure that all students have the same opportunity to learn.

Roy Johnson, MA, in his article entitled Equal Access to Quality School Facilities writes "Though few studies exist that establish a clear and direct relationship between student achievement and the quality of school facilities, common sense tells us that students in newer and better maintained school facilities are apt to have access to the necessary equipment, teaching staff and environment conducive to learning." An environment that is conducive to learning is what we want for our students, all of our students. Although Mr. Johnson states that few studies have been done, it seems that a study would not be as effective as a trip to Home Depot or Lowes to gather supplies and a community project that would lead to improvement in the environment allowing students a better place to learn. This environment would allow all students, regardless of financial situation, to achieve better. Is the answer to the challenge then more direct community involvement and ownership in the problem? Perhaps that is one solution.

Also, as a teacher I care about my students' success. I want all of my students to have equal opportunity to become a contributing part of the community they will eventually serve. This might mean adjusting how I teach and changing some assignments in my classroom to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to shine. Part of my responsibility might include making sure that supplies are available so that everyone has access, even if this means I absorb the cost at times. I want what is best for my students.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

This was a very interesting conversation between Brad Overell-Carter (the head of the Think Global School), Alex Ragone, Arvind Grover, and Vinnie Vrotny. Mr. Overell-Carter discussed his school based on an amazing concept of being mobile. The school moves, 12 countries in 12 semester, until every student has traveled around the world four times. They focus on utilizing technology (every student must have an IPad and IPhone) and use it in their educational experiences. The schedule is extremely flexible so that students might have a basic class (math, literature, history, etc) in the morning but then as a group the school would attend a museum exhibit or have a guest lecturer for the next part of the day. Scheduling is handled through Google Tracker and everyone meets for "family time" to discuss how the week had gone and what they could possibly do differently the following week to improve the experience.

Some challenges discussed were the fact that globalization as we think of it has not realistically occurred yet. Jurisdiction of APPs, for example, is not universal. Purchasing and receiving equipment has been delayed at times due to customs issues. Finally, it was expressed that the use of technology has been "distracting." not in the sense that it is being misused but rather that too much time was being spent thinking about how to use the expensive equipment purchased rather than focusing on the end result of the project underway.

Mr. Overell-Carter broke down the curriculum into three parts. These include baseline literacy, like "traditional" schools focus on, applications of the information obtained in lessons, and research. The overall program appears to be very much student-based with a goal to responsibly contribute to society when need is perceived. Two things he stated they would like to remain focused on are "staying in the question" rather than getting bogged down in finding the answers and having a goal to "be better than before".

While I am still not a fan of this venue of teacher collaboration, I certainly see the benefit in such a venue. I don't believe I would have heard of such an educational program had I not been exposed to this. This particular discussion intrigued me to the point that I will be looking for the next conversation when the school has moved from Stockholm to Syndey (which actually happened in January). I hope I will not have to wait too long!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

The SuperBowl is such an important part of February. I can't imagine not spending time with the family watching the game. Today's is bittersweet since the Patriots are not playing. The game has been a little slow but I did get the opportunity to get some homework done (thank God for laptops). It is amazing to think that in today's society we do not need to be sitting in the living room in order to see the game. We could be walking down the street watching the game on our phone or sitting in a library watching on our netbook (plugged in of course) or pretty much anywhere you can imagine. Being a digital immigrant (more so than not) I still long for the connection with other actual human beings being in the same room and sharing the excitement rather than being connected via a technological link but I can certainly understand the freedom one might enjoy because of one.